Pujas you can touch and feel

Offbeat

 I must have had the following conversation in Delhi more times than I can count.

 Question: You must be going to Calcutta for the puja holidays?

 Answer: Of course not. Most sensible Calcuttans get out of the city during the pujas. The crowds are made up of people from the mofussils who come to see the city lights. I will pack my family into the car and take them to the Himachal hills, which are gorgeous at this time of the year.

 That was mostly the routine during my 15 years in Delhi. On the odd occasion when I was in Delhi for one or two of the Durga puja days and paid a mandatory visit to Chittaranjan Park, my resolve to avoid the place during the pujas was reconfirmed. The pujas in Delhi and particularly Chitto Park are hugely successful, big time, with crowds rivalling those in Calcutta, and best avoided.

 If you know your priorities, you may even go near a puja pandal but not join the endless queue to enter it. You can instead stop a distance away and do one of the things which are an integral part of puja celebrations